Amateur Radio.... A commonly misunderstood hobby that most people associate with older people, or those weird guys you don't want your kids around. Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Sure, there are those who give amateurs a bad rap, but you will find that in any large group of people, it's just statistics. For the most part, amateurs are everyday people from all walks of life. There are blue collared workers, businessmen and women, professional sports players, politicians, and even some celebrities.
I have been interested in electroincs most of my life. I have always enjoyed tearing things apart to see how they work, and even fixing things on occasion. I got my start in radio like many other amateurs have, CB radio. My uncle and grandfather were both truck drivers, so I was not a stranger to the CB. After I got my driver's license and my first truck (a 1984 Ford Ranger) I bought my first CB. It was a used Browning Brownie 23 channel CB, that came with a mag mount antenna. I soon had it installed and felt like a pro! Now I could talk to just about anyone I wanted to, while driving around. Now, this was in 1997 and before cell phones really started to become afforadble and commonplace. Before cell phones, CB was the way people communicated while on the road. Watch just about any movie from the 70's or 80's and you'll see what I mean, especially the "Smokey and the Bandit" trilogy.
Not long after graduating high school I joined the local volunteer fire department. It was there I met an amateur from a neighboring department, Larry AB8KB. I saw his portable radio and noticed it had a lot more buttons than my commercial big M radio. I asked him about it and he told me it was a "ham" radio and told me a little bit about ham radio. Well it sounded to good to be true. A group of radio enthusiasts that all talked on radios, with repeaters and all that, I was instantly hooked!
My career in the fire service started to evolve and change. I had recently become an EMT and was now responding to squad calls day and night, as well as working during the day. I soon forgot about studying for the test or learning morse code (there was not a tech-no code then). It was several years later that I heard the FCC dropped the code requirements for technicians, and you could now get your license by taking a simple 35 question test. Now was the time I tought, but once again, the fire department consumed all my spare time for studying. Now the EMS Supervisor/Captain I had training to plan, reports to submit, and maintenance to attend to.
Finally in 2005 came a break. I had moved and joined a new department. Starting back at the bottom I had no responsibilities and had a lot more free time. I decided it was time to get my ticket. A fellow firefighter thought amateur radio sounded interesting, so we studies together. When we were ready, me and my friend/fellow firefighter Ryan went to the Lorain County Red Cross to take our test. We turned in out tests back to back and aced the technician. We were offered to take the General, which I missed by 1 question. A few weeks later we received our new sequential calls, KD8BIW and KD8BIX. The rest is history!
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